Tag: TaVNS

Medical Research

Role of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation, TAVNS in cancer pathology and immunotherapy: Can this be a hidden treasure, especially for the elderly?

  Some patients may be aware that I use TAVNS, or ear stimulation in the clinic in conjunction with acupuncture.  It’s a non-invasive means of stimulating the vagus nerve through a branch of the vagus in the ear.  The proof of the efficacy of TAVNS is getting more robust.  These authors from Hong Kong make…

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Medical Research

Cardiovascular effects of auricular stimulation – and auricular acupuncture

Readers may be aware that I’ve been using transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in the clinic, usually with heart rate variability monitoring.  It can increase vagal “rest-and-digest” activity, lowering anxiety, blood pressure and anxiety and improving mood.  It’s also been studied for cardiac effects. The number of studies on auricular stimulation (AS) techniques, including transauricular vagus…

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Medical Research

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation ameliorates cardiac abnormalities in chronically stressed rats

I’m unclear on the actual protocol in this study.  I don’t know what alternate therapy means. They developed an animal model for chronic stress (always awful to contemplate) and then evaluated their cardiac markers and behavior.  After two weeks of TVNS their markers and behavior improved.  We saw a recent article on TaVNS and heart…

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Health & Fitness

Expiratory-gated Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) does not Further Augment Heart Rate Variability During Slow Breathing at 0.1 Hz

This study is relevant because of the RAVANs technology that synchronizes TAVNS with expiration.  In these authors study they use 100Hz which may nor may not be optimal, just as tragus and cavum concha may not be optimal.   But nonetheless, they saw now difference in HRV. TAVNS is running up against real problems in showing…

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Medical Research

Circadian stage-dependent and stimulation duration effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability

In this study there were 3 findings. 1. HRV showed significant improvement in vagal activity in the morning.  In the evening there were no similar result. 2. HRV parasympathetic markers improved more in patients who had lower vagal activity to begin with. (This has been a consistent finding across studies) 3. The most pronounced changes…

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Case Studies

TAVNS improved brain connectivity on patients of disorders of consciousness

This study is related to this one, except that in this one the are monitoring brain activity. Yifei W, Yi Y, Yu W, Jinling Z, Weihang Z, Shaoyuan LI, Mozheng WU, Jianghong HE, Peijing R. Transcutaneous auricular vague nerve stimulation improved brain connection activity on patients of disorders of consciousness: a pilot study. J Tradit…

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Medical Research

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and heart rate variability: Analysis of parameters and targets

Use of Trancutaneous Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation TAVNS, might be helpful to augment acupuncture for many different conditions since improved parasympathetic activity can mitigate inflammation globally in the body.  I’ve been studying this with HRV in conjunction with acupuncture, which also improves parasympathetic activity. Machetanz K, Berelidze L, Guggenberger R, Gharabaghi A. Transcutaneous auricular vagus…

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Medical Research

International Consensus Based Review and Recommendations for Minimum Reporting Standards in Research on Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (Version 2020)

As blog readers know, I’m using TAVNS in the office in conjunction with acupuncture.  Some patients have a unit they use at home also.  It is becoming a focus of keen interest in the allopathic medical community, so this article covers guidelines for its use. Front Hum Neurosci. 2020; 14: 568051. Published online 2021 Mar 23. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.568051…

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Medical Research

TAVNS and GERD, Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease

This study shows that transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (TAVNS) improves the symptoms of GERD through vagal activity. This study shows that transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (TAVNS) improves the symptoms of GERD through vagal activity. Zhang B, Hu Y, Shi X, Li W, Zeng X, Liu F, Chen JDZ, Xie WF. Integrative Effects and Vagal…

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Medical Research

TAVNS and HRV: Statistical Analysis of Studies

Keywords: Bayesian statistics; heart rate variability; meta-analysis; tVNS; transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation. In this study, there was no evidence of TAVNS affecting the vagally mediated component of HRV. Researchers believe, however, that TAVNS does more to inhibit sympathetic activity than increase vagal activity, so TAVNS still might have benefit in improving autonomic balance.This study…

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